Search of the prior art revealed the following related U.S. Patents that do not teach the improvements of the instant invention: U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,280,774--U.S. Pat. No. 3,803,950--U.S. Pat. No. 3,774,279--U.S. Pat. No. 3,289,717.
A family of hard plastic laminate materials comprising a very thin decorative surface covering a less decorative, thicker structural core, as exemplified by the trademark Formica, is widely used to cover wooden structures to impart improved surface properties including durability and appearance. The laminate is generally cut oversize, cemented to the wooden surface, and when the overhanging edge is trimmed flush with the edge of the wood to create the visual impression that the thin, deoorative surface, e.g. a wood grain, represents the material of construction. The edge is then very slightly rounded to remove the sharp, hard edge. Flush cutting is generally performed with a flush cutting router bit having a rotary guide wheel or a non-cutting pilot cylinder at one end, and a cylindrical cutter of slightly smaller diameter above it. Mounted in a router, the guide wheel bears against the edge of the base while the rapidly rotating cylindrical cutter cuts away the overhanging laminate. The very slightly reduced diameter of the cutter relative to the guide wheel provides clearance for the cutter from the base. The resulting slight overhang and sharp upper corner of the laminate is removed by a hand filing finishing operation requiring skill and adding cost. Attempts made to overcome this finishing operation include (a) bevel cutters or (b) quarter round cutters. A bevel cutter uses a cylindrical cutter that is a conic section with the smaller diameter, smaller than, and. adjacent to the guide wheel. The depth of cut can be adjusted to cut a bevel in the laminate with the cemented surface perfectly flush with the base edge. If the angle of the bevel is great enough, the sharp edge of the laminate is removed, but a large band of the core is exposed, marring the finished appearance. If, on the other hand, the angle is small to reduce the exposed core, the edge of the laminate remains sharp, i.e. close to a right angle and requires rounding with a hand tool. A quarter round cutter has a cutting edge that generates a cut surface that is a 90.degree. arc of a circle, with a slight clearance relative to the guide wheel to avoid marring the edge of the base. The cutting edge shape limits adjustability. If the cutter is set high, the edge produced is almost parallel to the base edge, leaving a slight overhang so that filing is required. If the cutter is set low, the edge produced is almost parallel to the laminate surface, exposing too much core. The problem is so serious and so poorly resolved by cutters of the prior art that laminate manufactures are developing, at great expense, laminates with a core closer in appearance to the surface material so that the exposed core will not be as evident.